Genocidal Escape
by Aboverain
Summary: Chara manipulated Frisk into believing she was born to kill all the monsters. When she accepted to go with her and make a second genocide run just for fun, Sans found himself remembering the previous timeline. In a desperate attempt to prevent the monsters from being murdered again, he must convince them to go to the only safe place; far, far away from their homelands.
1. Chapter 1

A soft, cold breeze spread around Snowdin like the rain filling a stream. Bits of snow were carried away by the wind, landing on flowers and trees, or simply travelling in the air towards who knows where.

Over a snowy hill, a hooded figure stood motionless staring into the vast, pure white horizon. Even in that dimpled smile, and careless half-closed eyes, a hint of worry could still be perceived in the overall laid back features.

It was going to happen again. He could feel it; it was a strong feeling that told him he wasn't wrong, and that no matter when, the chaos would occur. Sans had learnt to heed those specific feelings.

That demon was still out there. And she would do it again. Sans had been there to watch her kill everyone with a smile wider than his own. Not a single bit of mercy was present on that thing as she murdered anyone she saw. No matter how friendly they were, they would die. They offer friendship, they obtained a killing slash.

Sans had seen that demon face-to-face. He fought against her. And won. And won. And won over and over again. Until, on his most desperate attempt to stop her, he failed, and there was nothing he could have done to keep restraining that poor excuse for a human.

The monsters had tried their best to stop her before their battle. He saw them. He saw them fight or even try to spare that thing. All their attempts had been useless.

Undyne saved a child's life and risked her own doing so without thinking twice, and even when she refused to die and morphed into an even stronger, determined version of herself, she still died at the hands of the demon. But the way she tried was admirable, and Sans had no doubt she _was_ a true heroine.

Mettaton had also done a heroic, but sadly futile attempt at stopping her. Even he knew that his NEO form wasn't strong enough to win against something like that, but he still tried because he cared about what could happen to the entire Underground, and even the surface.

And Papyrus… in Sans' eyes, he had done the best possible attempt. He knew his brother would never fight, even if his life depended on it, and if he did, he wouldn't dare to kill anyone, be it a serial murderer or not. He tried to convince her, and put his nonexistent heart into it. He knew there was a good person within that human; too bad that wasn't true at all.

And then, there had been him. The lazy skeleton who had to take action, and he wished he had done something sooner. Sometimes, Sans wondered why he didn't straight up kill her before she murdered his brother. He was there. He could have done something.

But his response had been to freeze when she killed the most important thing to him and laughed maniacally afterwards. He hadn't talked to anyone until they met again at the Judgment Hall. He smacked himself mentally again and again. He had been a fool for not doing anything and waiting until the last moment.

He did all he could. It still wasn't enough. He didn't know what that thing did after she killed him. The only ones alive after the massacre were Asgore and that stupid flower. She probably killed them too.

The next thing he knew was that everything had turned back to normal. Everyone was alive and happy, not remembering what happened. But Sans did remember it. Not fully, but he did know there had been nobody left in the Underground and a crazed human was murdering everyone for her own amusement. And she was back at it.

He wouldn't let it happen again. He was prepared. He had to do something. He had to take everyone away from there.

He was young back then, but the memory struck him. When New Home was still under construction, Asgore had reunited the monsters to tell them that if something ever went horribly wrong, there was a Protection Center (as always, the King couldn't think of a better name) far away, in almost unexplored parts of the Underground in which there were still no buildings whatsoever. He ordered to build it away from everything and everyone so the attacking anomaly would never find them.

By the time that human came by, everyone forgot about the Center. It slipped out of their minds, because nothing bad happened. Most monsters didn't think such thing would ever be necessary, and erased it from their memories. How wrong they were.

Sans had to get everyone there. It wouldn't be easy, but he had to. He needed to forget about his damned life for once, stop being the careless, lazy idiot he now called himself, and take action. He would save everyone. Even if he wasn't able to save himself in the process.

His decision had been made. He had enough time to warn Papyrus without him willing to know what really happened; the child was probably in the Ruins, acting all innocent around Toriel.

* * *

She wanted to go. But not to find a new, more placid home like she had made Toriel believe, no. She had requested Chara to go with her in her second murderous route, and the deceased child gladly accepted to accompany her. They couldn't wait to go on a killing spree once again.

Chara had manipulated Frisk into believing she was a killing machine the first time. A beast with only one purpose: causing death and gloom all over. It was fun, especially for Chara. She didn't have to do the dirty job, but would definitely take control in certain moments. She knew how it worked. Only two monsters would put up a real fight. Pathetic.

She remembered the last run. She would make Frisk lash out at anyone who dared to stand on their way. It was too easy to kill everyone. The other child had accepted she was murderous, as murderous as certain demon. And she liked it.

After a simple 'fight' with Toriel, the old monster was starting to give up. She was making her attacks lessen and miss purposely. Chara liked Frisk's new way of killing, it was the best way; she would lure them into a false sense of security, to then murder them without remorse. Such a wonderful way to kill.

"…I promise I will take good care of you here."

Her smile could melt the angriest of monsters into happiness, but that wouldn't work with Frisk. She didn't do anything, and merely returned the smile. She held the knife behind her back innocently, her hands clutching the hilt with excitement. She couldn't wait to see the look on that innocent face. Chara felt her own spirit wavering in anticipation.

"I know we do not have much, but… We can have a good life here."

Same smile, same return. The small hands clutched the hilt harder. Frisk prepared herself.

Toriel's happy expression faded, seeing her child do nothing. She didn't even move, and her little smile has widening. Toriel could barely understand if she wanted to stay or go. That grin could tell many things, but the monster wasn't the one to tell them apart.

"Why are you making this so difficult? Please, go upstairs…"

Frisk didn't move, but she could barely hold in a giggle. A sadistic giggle. She made no movement whatsoever, and Toriel started to look worried, and saddened. She didn't know what the kid wanted. She didn't respond to her. What was she waiting for? Was she waiting for her to cry, or just give up?

Frisk blinked innocently, and the goat monster had to let a smile of her own carve her white face. She chuckled gently. "Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child."

That was it. Chara grinned; the most sinister, maleficent grin Frisk had seen in her entire life, and she almost tried to mimic it. _Right. You cannot save even a single child,_ the human thought coolly. _I suppose you can't even save yourself either._

Frisk stared at Toriel dead in the eye for a moment, and her adoptive 'mother' could have sworn she saw the dimmest of red hues on her eyes as she lunged forward before she could react on the slightest, and slashed her chest and face.

Toriel froze, as blood slowly dripped out of her wounds.

She tried to talk, but found herself unable to. Her eyes glanced at the child. Drops of blood fell from the blade. Frisk laughed silently, watching Toriel with a completely insane face. Chara cackled, her laughter unheard by Toriel's ears but ringing like a pleasant melody in Frisk's.

"You…" the monster's voice cracked, and turned eerily deep. "…at my most vulnerable moment…" Blood stained her purple robe, and fell down her cheek. "To think I was worried you wouldn't fit in out there…"

A frown appeared on Frisk's face as Toriel started laughing, almost like she was brushing it off. Her expression had a smile painted on it. She couldn't believe who she tried to protect. _What_ she tried to protect. She was trying her best to keep a merciless beast safe. She had been such a fool.

"You really are no different than them!"

Her legs were unable to support her any longer, and Toriel fell to her knees on a dying breath. But even so, she managed to chuckle at her terrible mistake. "Ha… ha…"

Her body pulsed, and disappeared into mere dust. Toriel still died with a smile on her face.

" _Beautiful."_ Frisk heard Chara's whispering voice on her head. She giggled. " _I knew you had it in you. You don't have enough with only killing monsters, don't you? Heh heh. You must make them suffer mentally now as well, just for your own amusement. Such cruelty._ _ **I love it.**_ _"_

* * *

"WHAT?"

Papyrus couldn't give credit to what he heard. He was merely re-adjusting his color tile puzzle when Sans popped out of nowhere, as usual, and told him they had to leave. Just like that. No plain greetings, no jokes, no puns. He just told him they had to get out of there, and with a strangely serious tone.

"you heard me. we have to leave. and as soon as possible."

What was that for? That wasn't the Sans Papyrus was used to. He was acting weird.

The elder brother couldn't tell him both of them had been murdered in a previous timeline. Not only because his younger brother wouldn't believe it without what Papyrus considered solid proof, but because he lacked the guts to tell him so. And literally, at that.

Sans didn't imagine himself doing it. If he had to, how would he tell the sensible Papyrus something like that? _hey bro, we've been killed by a crazy kid who reseted the timeline and now i'm going to stop her by going who-knows-how-far-away with all the monsters living here._ Yeah, sure.

"SANS, I AM NOT GOING ANYWHERE WITHOUT AN EXPLANATION."

He saw it coming. Sans was too worried about the kid's presence that he forgot Papyrus wouldn't think he was acting normally. He thought for a second. He hadn't planned it out, he didn't know what his reaction would be, and if he would believe whatever crossed his mind first.

"listen pap, we just need to go."

"BUT WHERE? AND WHY?"

"we've gotta go with undyne. you better come before it's too late."

Papyrus was completely lost. What was Sans talking about? What was the need on bothering Undyne? What was with the hurry? Too late for what? The tall skeleton's mind swam in a bottomless sea of unanswered questions. He gazed at his brother, and stood motionless for a short moment before narrowing his eyes, both thoughtfully and questioningly. "SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH YOU."

Sans made a light-hearted chuckle at his comment. "there are many things wrong with me, bro." He winked. "be a bit specific."

Sans knew that his brother was bad at explaining stuff like that. He was good at explaining puzzles (well, 'good'), but a failure at explaining his reasons and motives. The older skeleton wanted to take advantage of that; it was better to at least have his brother guess something he'd never think of. Having fun playing a 'game' with his brother was better than telling him the hurtful truth.

"YOU… YOU JUST ARE NOT YOURSELF. YOU ARE ACTING ALL WEIRD. I MEAN- YOU JUST CAME HERE AND TOLD ME TO LEAVE. BUT LEAVE WHERE?"

"you want me to tell you? but that would ruin the surprise. go on and guess."

Deep inside, it hurt Sans to lie to his naïve brother. He had to reunite everyone with Asgore first before telling what the problem was. Obstacles like Undyne would be hard to pass through, however. She would definitely tear the truth right out of him if he wasn't careful enough. Lying to Undyne wasn't as easy as lying to Papyrus.

"WHEN YOU MAKE ME GUESS SOMETHING, IT ALWAYS TURNS OUT TO BE A JOKE."

Papyrus crossed his arms and scowled at his brother, who merely laughed it off. "come on. i promise this is no joke. not this time, at least."

Papyrus _mmh_ -ed in thought. Sans had made him guess many things before. All of them ended in an awful pun, an awful joke, or awfully nothing. He did seem serious this time – as serious as an obviously mischievous Sans could be, at least – and Papyrus was out of ideas. He had no choice other than to believe him.

"OKAY, OKAY. YOU SAID WE ARE GOING TO SEE UNDYNE, SO ARE WE GOING TO TRAIN?"

 _Would be a good idea considering what's coming,_ Sans thought, his perpetual smile faltering out of his brother's sight. "nope. keep trying. but, it's kinda related to training. we're gonna do a ton of walking."

He winked again, and Papyrus saw it coming from a mile away.

"DON'T YOU-"

"a skele-ton."

"I KNEW IT!" the taller skeleton mildly shouted, much to Sans' delight. "I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO END UP IN A JOKE!"

"alright, alright. that's not it. couldn't resist."

He had to chuckle at the look his brother was giving him. That look of _I've had enough of you_ Papyrus was so good at making.

"but as i said, you're close with the training thing. we're gonna walk for a long time."

"OH, OH, ARE WE GOING ON A FIELD TRIP?!"

"the more or the less." He lowered his joking behavior a bit, showing Papyrus that the fun time had ended. "but really, we've gotta go to waterfall about right now."

In the blink of an eye, they were both at the damp swampland.

* * *

Frisk stared, confused, at the almost endless line of trees in the snowy forest. She had crossed Papyrus' poor excuse for a gate in the middle of the bridge, and Sans hadn't made an appearance yet. She remembered he would try to scare her by snapping a fallen branch and pranking her before leading her through his brother's puzzles. He was gone.

" _Where did that damn skeleton go?"_ she heard Chara growl. She hated Sans; along with Undyne, he was one of the few reasons she, along with Frisk, had to reset, and reset, and reset. It was frustrating. He had made their fight so long and thwarting that her hate could be seen boiling out of her. She remembered how much she laughed in pure delight at his ironic death. If he hadn't been such a lazy pile of bones, Chara knew he would've actually stood there, without doing anything else other than pushing her away from him with his gravity-manipulating magic, instead of having fallen asleep.

" _Whatever. Let's just keep going."_ She chuckled darkly, and whispered, " _there are many stupid monsters out there, waiting to be killed."_


	2. Chapter 2

Snow rustled under her feet as Frisk moved on through Snowdin. She had already killed at least half of the monsters, and the grin on her face and dry blood barely staining her clothes but flooding her knife could send the rest running at first eye contact.

She had passed through Papyrus' puzzles more than once already, and neither he nor Sans had done an appearance. Something was wrong there. Chara had told her to stay wary; both knew the shorter skeleton had knowledge on the timelines, as he proved during their many attempts to defeat him, but none of the two humans knew how far his memories could go.

They were completely gone, and not hiding anywhere; Frisk had looked everywhere as she searched for more stupidly brave monsters that decided to challenge her, and none of the skeletons had showed up. They were tricking her. She was sure.

But why?

Frisk was sure they didn't know she even existed yet. Sans couldn't probably remember that much, could he? The child immediately threw those crazy thoughts away. It was impossible. Only she and Chara could remember the previous timeline.

" _Keep looking. They must be here. Search every corner of this place, and don't stop until you find them."_

Chara's harsh order did send shivers through Frisk's back, but she ignored it. She had many kills to perform. There was a lot of time to search for those two.

* * *

"SO WHY DO WE NEED UNDYNE?"

Sans and Papyrus silently walked through Waterfall. Only the light sound of their footsteps, some monsters' conversations, and the relaxing noise of running water along with a soft breeze were heard. "without her, this won't work out." Sans dimly replied. Papyrus briefly glanced at him as they kept walking. He seemed to be lost in thought, which was strange enough. He never really overthought things. And if he did, Papyrus hadn't been there to witness it.

"I JUST DON'T FEEL RIGHT ABOUT BOTHERING HER. I MEAN, SHE'S ON PATROL AROUND THIS TIME. IT'S A VERY IMPORTANT JOB! I DON'T THINK SHE WILL LIKE US VISITING JUST LIKE THAT."

"when i tell her what we came here for, she won't be mad."

"SURE HOPE SO. WHEN SHE GETS ANGRY, SHE GOES ON A MAD NOOGIE SPREE AT ME! NYEH HEH HEH!"

Papyrus looked at his certainly dark surroundings, before his eyes just slightly widened as a though came to his mind. "SANS, JUST THOUGHT ABOUT SOMETHING."

"yeah?"

"IF YOU CAN USE THESE… 'SHORTCUTS' TO GET TO DIFFERENT PLACES WITHOUT HAVING TO WALK-" Sans was sure he heard him mutter 'lazybones' between his teeth, and grinned. "WHY DON'T YOU USE ONE NOW?"

His brother shrugged. "i don't know where undyne is right now. if i knew, i'd teleport right where she is. guess we have to walk around until we find her."

"WELL, THAT EXPLAINS I-"

Sans flinched when Papyrus suddenly let out a hasty screech and jumped back, landing on one foot and staying that way when a blue spear landed just mere inches away from him.

"…or, until she finds us."

The short skeleton relaxed after realizing the one who dared to attack his brother before his eyes was just a startled Undyne. Giving a short chuckle, she jumped off the tall, large boulder she stood on, making an echoing _thud_ as she landed.

"Jeez guys. I almost kill you. Was it so hard to tell me you were coming?" She sounded rather annoyed, but deep down both Sans and Papyrus knew she was in a good mood.

"Y-YEAH…?" Papyrus whimpered, still frozen in his shocked position, making Undyne laugh again.

"Come on, I didn't even touch you."

The not-so-charismatic-anymore monster slowly backed away from the spear, not taking his eyes off of it. But as usual, he easily recovered his charming demeanor and proudly said, "GOOD THING. I DON'T KNOW WHAT ANY OF YOU WOULD DO WITHOUT ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

His trainer directed him a smile. "Back on topic, what are you even doing here?" She put a scowl on her face. "Don't you know I'm on patrol right now? Better be important, or else!"

"IT IS IMPORTANT! AT LEAST, THAT'S WHAT SANS SAID. BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE WANTS TO TELL YOU YET, SO ASK HIM."

The slit-shaped eyes looked at the apparently thoughtful skeleton. Sans was unsure about how exactly he was going to tell Undyne what happened. He was sure that he wasn't ready to let Papyrus know yet, though, so he had to make up something to not let him hear, and not let Undyne freak out at the same time.

"papyrus, i'll tell you later. right now, only undyne must know this."

Seeing the disappointed, yet confused look on his brother's face, he added, "you can go play around the echo flowers meanwhile if you wanna. after that i promise i will tell you everything." He winked reassuringly. "no tricks."

Papyrus squinted, and Sans already knew that was a clear yes. "SINCE YOU MENTIONED THE ECHO FLOWERS, I WILL WAIT. FOR A BIT. BUT TELL ME, ALRIGHT?!"

"fine, fine, i'll… tell you."

Gladly for him, his younger brother didn't notice the worry on his voice as he wandered off to play around the Echo Flowers. He loved to say things and let them repeat his words. It was the second main reason why he loved going to Waterfall, the first being of course training with Undyne. Plus, the Echo Flower field was the place where he'd sometimes talk to that one friendly, living flower.

"Something's bothering you." Undyne commented. "You don't usually come here unless you want to prank someone with that telescope thing, and much less with that seriousness. What's the problem?"

Sans hesitated. Undyne would definitely go mad when he told her there was a rampaging human murdering everyone. He had to be subtle, especially with Papyrus around. "look, i don't want you to freak the freak out about this, alright?"

The warrior frowned, and almost hesitantly gave a slight nod. "before getting to the point… would you believe me if i told you that i can remember what happened in another timeline?"

Undyne thought for a moment, and made a barely noticeable head tilt as she repeated, "Another timeline?"

"yes. you know that humans can reset and all that stuff, don't you?"

A nod.

"well… y'see… this is the part where you aren't supposed to go mad at me. this is another timeline. the past one… let's just say… a crazy human came in and started killing everyone. even you."

She said nothing, and those piercing yellow eyes stared at his direction, but not at him; they were almost lost in thought. Sans waited for a reply for a few crushing seconds. He didn't know if he had messed up.

"A… human came here? And… killed everyone?"

Sans nodded slowly, and the surroundings seemed to have gone quiet, adding unnecessary, unbearable suspense into the conversation. All he could hear was the distant voice of his brother whisper-yelling things to the blue flowers.

"But…" Undyne sighed exasperatedly. "You're kidding. You have to be kidding. Its- it's impossible that a human went past _me_ … It's impossible that one even made it this far!"

"don't think it's pleasant for me to tell you this. i remember almost everything. she killed every monster she encountered. she killed you, mettaton, the king, me… papyrus…"

When his voice trailed off and his constant smile faltered, Undyne got all the proof she needed to tell that his little speech wasn't any hurtful joke. Sans would never mess with her like that, and he would never get emotional over a stupid prank.

"How?"

Her voice came stern, and Sans' eye-lights looked up at her to meet with those imposing eyes.

"How did she get past me?"

"you wouldn't believe it."

"What happened?"

Her voice was getting rougher, and the skeleton sighed before continuing. "when i saw you fighting, you had saved that little kid that follows you around, and the human apparently killed you… but then you refused to die. you…transformed. and please, take me seriously on this. you killed her many times, and she kept coming back through resets. i was forced to see you two fight again and again, and it wasn't until she finally defeated you that i had to turn around and leave."

She listened with wide eyes; her slit-shaped pupils had shaped into smaller dots out of surprise, and shock. Was she really capable of… reviving? And becoming even stronger? That couldn't be possible. Undyne knew her limits. She knew what she could do and what she could not do.

"now that human is back."

She looked at him.

"she's doing it again, she's going to kill everyone again. and i just know that this time it's going to be even worse. that's why i brought papyrus here before that thing could get to snowdin. undyne, if we stayed… she would have killed him."

"I… I see…" Sans was glad she didn't go crazy and directly go find that murderer, like he had predicted. She actually looked hurt. And she was. A painful flood of terrible thoughts attacked her relentlessly, and she was powerless to stop it.

If a human did go on a killing spree… She just couldn't imagine something like that with ease. She knew some humans were cruel, but _that_ cruel? It changed her vision on humanity. She felt her heart ache. How could anyone murder something as nice and charming as Papyrus? She wouldn't be surprised if he tried to give that thing a hug instead of fighting. And if that human killed- or, more appropriately, destroyed Mettaton, that'd mean…

Alphys…

She shook her head to push those horrible thoughts out of her mind, and took a deep breath to calm herself down. "…so what are you going to do?"

"if we fight back, she will reset and keep coming back until she kills us. you know asgore pretty well." His white pupils almost seemed to shine with hope. "do you remember that protection center he told us about long ago?"

"Are you… are you saying we flee from this?"

Undyne wasn't convinced. She was a determined warrior, for everything's sake! She couldn't just run away. Then again… common sense knocked that determination out of her for just once. If Sans was right, and that human could reset and fight them as many times as she wished… then they _did_ need to run away. If she killed her, which would happen according to the skeleton, she would murder everyone else. And then, she'd kill Alphys again, or even worse, drive her to suicide if Mettaton was defeated first.

When the only choices were to flee or die, the warrior knew what she had to choose for everyone's good.

"Yes, I do. And he will too if we remind him." she finally accepted, towering proudly above the skeleton. "We can't do anything else, can we? We will leave."

Sans was relieved she understood. For Undyne, protecting everyone meant sacrifice until the end. But sacrifice until the end didn't precisely mean fight until death. If running away from an unstoppable creature was the only way the entire population of monsters in the Underground –or, the _remaining_ population– could be saved, then she'd give up fighting for them.

"glad to hear that. but… please, just don't tell paps until we reunite with asgore, ok? he'd do something stupid, or start crying forever." His voice deepened into a serious tone. "i don't want any of those to happen."

* * *

Snow went flying as she kicked it in frustration. She had killed everyone in Snowdin, and those left had ran away, clinging to life. She was supposed to fight Papyrus, but he hadn't made any appearance yet. If he wasn't in Snowdin, there weren't many other places he could have gone to.

" _Wait. Did you forget?"_

Frisk listened to Chara. _"That noisy skeleton must be at Waterfall. That's where he goes training with that damn fish! I don't know why he didn't try to show us his stupid puzzles or stop us this time, but it's not like it matters, right? Both him and his brother are still here. We will find them._ _ **And kill them**_ _."_

Frisk let out a giggle at the thought. She wanted to be as cruel as possible. She wanted to kill Papyrus in front of Sans and watch his reaction with a sadistic grin. Or the other way around. It would be just as fun. Seeing others crumble into a pile of sadness was a pleasant feeling.

" _Let's keep going. We have nothing left to do here."_ The demon's voice faded into a silent, echoing chuckle as Frisk walked towards Waterfall.


	3. Chapter 3

Woshua and Aaron's dust sprawled over the dark, cold ground and scattered across the air. A single drop of dusty blood slid down the knife and a grin carved Frisk's face. The reactions of the two monsters had been delightful. Woshua's terrified expression as the eerie creature watched his friend being slaughtered in front of his little eyes was perfect. Such terror and sadness made Chara feel like she was unable to wait until the next monster decided to throw itself into the pit of death.

" _Be wary now."_ Chara said rather calmly. _"Undyne will attack you soon. Remember how it happened. It will be better if we kill that persistent kid first, don't you think?"_ Frisk merely nodded, and kept walking, willing to kill more innocent creatures. Along with that ghost, Monster Kid had been the only one who survived. Neither Frisk nor Chara would allow that.

 _"And keep you eyes open."_ Chara continued in a menacing whisper. _"I have a feeling that at least one of those skeletons is around here. I want to enjoy their death."_

* * *

"Don't let Papyrus get into trouble." Undyne almost growled as she ran off, disappearing into the shadows with apparent hurry. If it was true that there was a relentless murderer around, that'd mean the human would try to kill someone as vulnerable as Monster Kid - if she could do something about it, Undyne would not let it happen. She felt horrible realizing that no matter how much she wanted to, she would never be able to save everyone in Waterfall. The human would fight her, and according to Sans, she would die. Undyne was well aware that the remaining monsters needed her more than ever.

Sans watched until her blurry shadow dissipated, and looked at the direction of the Echo Flower field with a clear hint of worry on his glowing eyes. He had a strange feeling, like a strange presence was telling him that danger was way too close. That demon would definitely kill the weak first; the skeleton would never forgive himself if he lost sight of Papyrus.

Just as he thought, his brother cheerfully wandered around the field, listening to the blue flowers' echoing whispers and once in a while stopping to admire his surroundings. Waterfall was one of the most peaceful places in the entire Underground, no one could deny that. Except for, of course, a couple of merciless humans who would see a sea of blood and dust as a way more beautiful place.

"so how's it going, bro?"

Papyrus turned to look at him with that big, joyful smile. "I LOVE BEING HERE! I ACTUALLY SAW THAT LITTLE FLOWER AGAIN AND HE TOLD ME A LOT OF SECRETS ABOUT THE ECHO FLOWERS." If there was one thing Sans did not appreciate, it was Flowey messing around with his brother. He didn't know what happened to that flower after he died. It was a possibility that he joined the human. They could be working together. It was a possibility that Flowey was trying to trick Papyrus. He could tell him to go wherever that human could be.

And he knew that such thing would not happen while he was alive.

Sans faked one of his light, careless chuckles so his brother wouldn't notice the crushing preoccupation he was holding. "i told you echo flowers don't talk by themselves."

"I ALREADY TOLD YOU THIS! THAT IS NOT AN ECHO FLOWER! IT'S YELLOW AND HE DOES SPEAK BY HIMSELF!"

"well, as long as you're fine with it..." Sans didn't feel the need to cut his brother's happiness short by telling him the flower he befriended was a soulless maniac willing to murder anyone who mistook him as a joke. It wasn't like Flowey was too much of a threat, anyways; he and Sans had several encounters, and the skeleton knew that treacherous flower would never think on challenging monsters like him or Undyne. Not only was it worthless, but also dangerous. Sans knew he could kill him easily. Flowey wouldn't attack Papyrus either. He overheard him saying he was fun to play around with, and did not feel any desire to break a toy.

* * *

The yellow creature watched hidden in the bushes. Frisk walked through, waiting for something to appear. Her hair and clothes were covered in dust, thing that made Monster Kid tilt his head with a frown. Why would that strange monster be covered in dust? He needed to ask. She looked almost expressionless, which was creepy, and she walked slowly, holding a reddened blade tightly. Monster Kid knew there was something off about that creature.

Everything was strangely quiet, and the atmosphere sent a slight shiver down the child's spine. Something was telling him not to go near, but he really did want to ask. A simple question about whar kind of monster she was would not hurt anybody, right? Just as Monster Kid was about to come out, a hand quickly grabbed him and pulled him into the taller, thicker bushes behind him. He let out a brief, startled shriek before a sharp hush silenced him.

He looked at his side once covered in the shade of the tall leaves and grass, and tried not to gasp at seeing his heroine right next to him. Eyes sparkling, he yelled, "Und-!" before she glared at him and hissed a nervous, "Quiet!"

Frisk immediately looked toward the bushes, only to see an unmoving pile of green there. Monster Kid understood immediately, and became still as a statue as the piercing, reddish eyes looked at their direction. Chara had taken control; she could handle a surprise attack better than Frisk, and was not going to let Undyne kill both if them in a second if the source if the noise had been her.

The gaze kept itself locked into the waving leaves before Chara let her companion retake control of her body, and kept walking warily. Undyne waited until the human was out if sight to come out, with apparent rage on her eyes. She could have killed that menace right there, and she darned that ability to reset after death. Even though she had done it for everyone's best, she would always remember that moment. Undyne, the relentless warrior, let go a murderer. Without a fight.

Monster Kid tried to contain his joy as he looked at his savior and at the direction Frisk took quickly and repeatedly. "Man! That was- that was!- That was so cool! But why didn't you beat that bad guy up?"

The warrior stood speechless for a moment, watching the empty way the human took. No matter how much she tried to convince herself into believing letting that thing go was the right choice, she didn't see it as such. "You can't stay here. Come with me." was all Undyne said before taking a different path so she didn't stumble righ into that murderer, and waited for an understandably shocked Monster Kid to follow her.

* * *

Sans watched his brother from afar, attentively. He could not let his guard down. He just hoped Undyne was alright, she was stubborn enough to fight that little brat. But even she knew when to take things seriously, and the skeleton was sure she just went to rescue that kid before it was too late.

"Babysitting your brother?" an innocent, but malicious voice said behind him, and Sans merely looked over his shoulder, recognizing it immediately.

"what do you want, flowey."

The golden flower let out a light giggle. "It's hilarious how you are trying to stop the unstoppable. Golly, you really MUST be desperate to 'save' everyone. Hee hee... There's no stopping Chara."

Flowey knew he had all of Sans' attention.

His glowing eyes stared at the flower for a moment. "you know her?"

"More than anyone else in this pathetic world does."


	4. Chapter 4

Flowey looked eerily distressed when Sans turned to look at him; he had been expecting the flower to stare back at him with either one of those demonic glares or a mocking smile. "I've seen what you're trying to do. It really is funny that you think it's going to work. You can go to the other side of the world if you want to. Chara will follow you either way."

Sans said nothing. Flowey wasn't precisely the one he was willing to seek help from, or even talk to, but he was pretty much the only other one who had the slightest idea of what was going on, aside from him. He could not let the hate put a barrier between him and the small bits of hope there were left. And… It wasn't like the soulless monster would bother mentioning that maniac killing everyone without a reason, however.

"You think that just because you remember what happened in a past timeline, you can stop it from happening again. What a joke." He couldn't help his eyes from widening in surprise. Now Sans was completely sure he needed that flower's help, even though he didn't precisely want to admit so. No, not yet. He had to be fully aware of what that thing knew about other timelines.

"You think you remember what happened? Sure, but you don't know more than I do." A small chuckle. "You want my help, don't you?"

"what do you know about all this."

"Everything, buddy. You may remember what happened, but I remember HOW it happened. I remember every word, every movement, every blink and breath. I saw all Chara had done with help of that other kid."

Sans wasn't about to even question how Flowey knew all that, neither did he know what he meant by that 'other kid', for he had seen only one murderous human on the loose. He just knew that the flower was playing an important role somewhere, and he had to discover where. He sighed, and looked back at his brother, seemingly enjoying the company of several butterflies and fireflies fluttering around him. "you wouldn't tell me this if you didn't have a reason."

"I just came here to state the obvious. You seem way too focused in protecting everyone you love to understand that what you are trying to do is impossible." He burrowed underground and popped out next to the skeleton. "Just admit it and don't complicate your life. With Chara around, you all are meant to die from now on. By trying to get away, you will only lead everyone to their deaths. Chara may as well thank you before killing you, for bringing them all together and make them an easy kill."

With that, Flowey left, leaving Sans alone with a storm of thoughts. He seemed to be concerned about the other child the flower mentioned. Something was off there. One was just about enough, Sans knew he couldn't deal with two psychopaths. Not only that, but Flowey appeared to remember everything just as if it happened yesterday, which led Sans to wonder just how much that little devil actually knew about the past events. He could have made the human remind him about the previous, chaotic timeline, which would lead to the conclusion that they were indeed working together.

"Sans!"

Undyne's voice made him snap right out of his thoughts. He was relieved to see that she managed to save Monster Kid without committing the foolish mistake of fighting something that could not be defeated, but she looked heavily anguished and worried. "If we are leaving, we have to leave NOW." How uneasy her voice sounded told Sans that something was way off the rails. "That punk is already here and is definitely not going to wait until we leave."

The skeleton stood thoughtful for a moment, almost overthinking his next decision. He was bad at making up plans with such a hurry, but he knew what he had to do. "take pap and the kid and go to hotland. tell alphys about this and try to get everyone there to hide."

Undyne blinked in disbelief. "You ain't coming? Are you mad?!"

"no need to worry about me. just get them outta here. i'll be fine." He was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving Undyne momentarily perplexed at his sudden, completely crazy decision. Was he really going to stay there? What if that demon saw him? Then again, he wouldn't get into a fight just like that. She had to trust him otherwise everything would turn upside down. She finally caught her words and almost instantly after realizing Sans would be fine yelled, "Papyrus!"

Said skeleton looked up right away as Undyne hopped off the small hill she stood on with Monster Kid clumsily following, almost loosing his footing, as usual, as he landed. "We need to leave. Right. Now." Papyrus looked at her with wide eyes, but saying nothing. What was with the hurries? Everyone seemed to want to accelerate every single thing.

"B-BUT WHAT ABOUT-"

"RIGHT. NOW!"

Papyrus flinched at the rough tone and didn't even have time to ponder about where his brother was. With Undyne in that mood, the only options were to do what she wanted, or do nothing and have her get whatever the order was done by force. "AYE AYE, SIR!" Papyrus blurted, before frowning under the fixed stare his trainer was giving him. "CAPTAIN? MASTER? ...BOSS?"

Undyne literally growled at him, which easily got him on the move with a small whimper. Monster Kid didn't hesitate to start walking alongside him. "To Hotland. Don't you two dare to go anywhere else."

* * *

The scaly hand held the pencil shakily and started writing barely readable letters and numbers down the notebook. Alphys had been completing a few tests lately, and she had been busier than ever trying to fix a few things here and there and getting them to work properly. It had been taking a lot of her time, and she still had to try out a few more improvements before being done.

"Alphys, darling!"

Rather startled, she looked behind her as a noticeably annoyed Mettaton EX came in. "Just tell me we're already done! You are trying to fix perfection!"

There was a slight frown on the lizard's face. After all, it was Mettaton himself who insisted in testing out his new body and Alphys came to the realization that he still needed a few tweaks. "I-I still have t-to… I need to w-write a few things b-before I'm done, alright? It's you w-who… who accepted t-to test out i-if everything was… working properly."

"Fine, fine. Just hurry with that writing! I'm dying to show this off!"

"ALPHYS!"

It truly was a miracle that the lab's doors were automatic or else Undyne would've smashed right through them. Her strenght was threatening to weaken, and her breathings had become slight gasps; she needed to stop a moment to recover after fighting against the inferno Hotland was while at the same time warning everyone to go without asking why. Coming from Undyne, nobody hesitated before getting away.

Alphys let out a startled shriek at the sudden visit, causing the notebook and pencil to fly out of her hands for a second before she caught them both as best as she could. "Alphys, and whatever your name was robot-thing, grab the heck you need and let's get out of here!"

"Welly welly well, hold on just a second!" Mettaton commented before his creator could utter a word, a suspicious and offended tone present in his robotic voice. "First, it's Mettaton for you honey, not 'robot-thing'. Secondly, you can't just come here and tell us to leave. Or at least, you can't tell ME to leave. I have an entire audience waiting for-"

"Shut your mouth, weirdo."

Undyne stomped past him and the robot didn't find the words to backsass the insolence, instead just stared at the spot the absolutely rude intruder had been and blinked once. When he recovered from the lack of respect the star had been given, he merely looked at Undyne with a cheeky scowl.

Monster Kid and Papyrus peeked into the lab with impressed faces as Alphys, having not noticed them yet, nervously asked, "B-b-but what's g-going on? Why- why do w-we have to leave?"

Undyne seemed to be losing her patience. "There's no time to explain now! Just get out of here and I'll tell you on the way!"

* * *

The silence was almost too powerful for Sans to handle. It was the sound of death. Nearly every monster living in Waterfall had already been killed as shown by the innocent dust sprawled all over. Those remaining ran away, hid, or even went in search of that devil to avenge the fallen.

He needed to find Flowey. The skeleton never imagined himself doing such thing, but that living flower was the key to anything the little brat had under the sleeve. Sans kept a suspicious eye on how jittery Flowey looked whenever he mentioned Chara's name, as if saying it alone was already a nightmare, even for the all-too-brave plant who stupidly decided fighting a way more powerful monster such as him repeatedly was a good idea.

"Looking for something, skelly?" Sans tried to contain his anger and turned to look at certain expectant flower. "This is funnier than I thought." His face turned demonic as he cackled, "You stay here only to talk to me, even if there's a murderer in the way!"

"quit playing around. you know what's going on here."

"And you want me to help you and your silly little friends." Flowey continued, as if he predicted the incoming words. "Now, why would I do that? I don't see why I should stop Chara from killing you all."

"listen here, buddy." Sans' glowing pupils were gone, leaving a void of pure black on his eye sockets. "you better not play with my patience. i think we've went through this enough times already."

Flowey merely let go a titter at the menace. "It's not like you can get rid of me forever. I can always-" He suddenly stopped, and looked clearly anguished, and even afraid. "I can... always..." Sans frowned in confusion, but luck seemed to get on his side as he overheard the flower mutter, "Her determination... I can't go back to any save point while they are alive..."

"what's the matter, pal?" the skeleton growled, his grin growing further knowing why Flowey suddenly became afraid of a fight against him. He wasn't about to stop and ask what that human had to do with his unability to go back. "can't reset?"

The once careless, scoffing laughs and giggles became nervous. The stem bent downwards as Flowey stuttered, "Hey, I... Think we didn't have a good start, but... You and I are friends, aren't we...?"

A blue flame covered Sans' left eye. He couldn't recall one time in which he had been more serious. "you wish. now, either you tell me everything you know about the timelines and that human, or else, you can already say goodbye to your life."


	5. Chapter 5

She stopped, expresionless. The wood of the bridge creaked under the last step and echoed as if it was in an empty cave. No signs of Undyne, no signs of Monster Kid. Chara knew something was going on there. They couldn't just disappear, and the fact that Undyne was not around either told her that they hadn't run away like cowards; monsters like that warrior would never escape from a fight.

Where were they, then? It was not normal, and she could feel the rage slowly filling her. By the other hand, though, the more she waited, the more her desire to kill raised. Chara would thoroughly enjoy killing those who went missing. They had always been the most entertaining to slay. A chuckle went unheard by everyone and everything, aside from Frisk, and she started walking forward.

"Chara, my friend..." The fallen child took control and Frisk's eyes earned an eerie, dim red glow. She didn't turn around, but she did find it rather strange that Flowey was there. Things were wrong indeed, he wasn't supposed to be there. A thought made her rage boil; what if that darn flower killed them?

But... No, that was impossible. Either Sans or Undyne would've decimated him countless times, and he could not reset. If he was alive, that meant he didn't play any part in the monsters' disappearance.

"I- I know you are looking for- for those guys." Chara smiled. He remembered. He had an amazing courage for even daring to show up; the human wondered if he was deliberately asking for a more painful way to die. Maybe she could rip each of his petals off and then butcher him. Yeah, that would be a satisfying kill.

But he knew about the missing monsters. The slaughter could wait.

"I know where they are, I... I know where they're going." Chara kept the silence, but turned around further to show her interest; doing so she noticed one of Flowey's petals had a visible gash, as if a projectile going at full speed hit him. The way he talked was suspicious. He sounded like he was revealing a secret he should have kept. Those monsters were planning something, she was sure of it.

"They are- they are going far away to get away from you. T-that's... That's funny, hey?" The child turned around fully, knife clutched in her hand. The nervous smile on the flower's face disappeared slowly as their eyes met. "See now? I told you I could be helpful, and- and I am!" He giggled faint-heartedly, but stopped after seeing no emotion whatsoever on the human's face, and he expected the worst.

He had learnt, but Flowey questioned if he had learnt enough. Helping Chara kill one monster did not work well last time. Helping her kill all of them should be enough, right? She needed him, didn't she ? He was risking his life telling Chara where the monsters were going - Sans gave him a tough warning to never tell her about their plan, and it was a death threat he would never forget. But he had more chances of getting killed by the skeleton than by Chara. It was worth a shot.

"... Chara...?" Flowey was more than ready to get out of there if the child decided to kill him first, but she laughed. It started in a mischievous giggle. Then it became malicious. Then it became a psychotic laugh that made him shiver like a Whimsun in a snowstorm.

"Yes, friend. You are helpful." she said slowly. They were trying to get away from her. They were trying to get away from death. How hilarious. Not a single one of them was going to escape her cold blade. Even if she had to walk to the end of the world through burning deserts and chilling tundras. They would not get away. They would not.

Chara turned to look at the understandably cowering flower, who tried to look as innocent as possible while not losing sight of the same weapon that mercilessly took away his life once. "You little sneak. Heh, heh... It almost makes me want to spare your life. After all, it IS kill or be killed, isn't it, Flowey?"

Chara gave a sadistic grin as she tilted her head, and the soulless creature could not care less if he was being hypocrital. He suddenly appreciated his life more than he ever thought he could. But it didn't seem to be his time to perish yet, as the human pulled off the glare and carefully stroke the blade, covered in dust that almost blocked her reflection. "But friends don't kill each other. Not so early, at least."

With one last chuckle, she walked away. Flowey felt so numb he could faint, but instead sighed profusely in relief. So much for living. Chara was not on his side, but at least he seemed to be the last on her list of death. No matter what, he had to team up with such a powerful being. They would be relentless. All that other kid did was kill a few monsters, and somehow that gladdened Chara enough to redo it with her in control. The only difference was that Flowey only killed those he considered a nuisance. He wouldn't stalk them to kill them just like that.

Chara had changed. It was not like the flower was that little, innocent child he used to be either, but he never expected his only friend to become such a cruel beast. Even Flowey had enough common sense to not even think of making way stronger creatures flee from him, and then follow them just because he was able to murder them all. His mind was sadistic, but not that sadistic.

All he had to do was spy the fugitives and tell Chara everything she needed to know. She would eventually let him work alongside her.

* * *

When Sans arrived at the lab through a shortcut, the scene was certainly amusing, to say the least. Alphys had said she 'needed a moment to take care of important things', leaving the rest waiting outside. Monster Kid paced around, and sometimes stopped to watch the argument Undyne and Mettaton were having, alongside a very confused Papyrus.

"SANS!"

Relief fell upon tall skeleton as his brother popped out of nowhere into sight. He was worried Undyne had left him behind, but he had a way more important thing to ask before making sure Sans was fine.

"sup, bro."

"SANS, UNDYNE SAYS THAT WE ARE LEAVING!"

His smile was about to disappear. He had told her to not mention the plan to Papyrus, and he tried not to start yelling at her. However, he was surely going to be forced to raise his voice; the fish and the robot's yells could be heard even in the surface.

"she told you so?"

Papyrus nodded rapidly before looking at the bickering monsters. Unless someone had a voice amplifier there, those two were not going to listen.

"Listen here, you piece of garbage, take back what you said or I'm gonna turn you into a bin!"

"Pfff, bin. Running out of ideas, darling?"

"You are playing with my patience, and take this as a threat: Do. Not."

"I think the temperature here is affecting your temper, fishy."

Sans tried not to laugh at the probably accidental pun he would surely use in the future, and decided to take action. Undyne was literally about to explode – thing that didn't impress Mettaton at all – and if it wasn't for the wall of blue bones that rose between the two, Alphys' creation would've been redecorated with spears.

"you guys act like babies." Sans deadpanned, removing the wall as the spear Undyne held decisively vanished with hesitation. "have you told him?"

Yellow eyes frowned at the glare Sans gave her. "I did not tell him directly. I mean, I told Alphys, and this THING," Mettaton turned his head away with crossed arms, offended. "but I didn't think Papyrus would hear it."

Sans almost melted at the puppy face his brother was staring at him with. He didn't want him to panic over the situation, but he had no choice left. "oh fine." he sighed. "listen pap, we... yes we are leaving."

"OH, IS IT A FIELDTRIP? AND WE'RE TAKING EVERYBODY WITH US! WOWIE!"

He hated having to ruin his happiness like that. "no, bro, it's not a fieldtrip. we are leaving, and we'll probably never return..." The frown his brother had broke his heart into a million pieces that drowned in a sea of sadness. No matter when or how he told him, it would hurt both of them, he realized. "there's a human that's murdering everyone. we... can't go back."

He mentally begged for Papyrus to say something, anything, one single word would be enough. Every second of silence was like a deadly stab. "OH..." was all the younger brother uttered, a mix of emotions within him. Undyne and Mettaton were at the edge of another argument when they came to the realization that it wasn't precisely the best moment.

"WHEN... WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME?"

"i tried telling you earlier, i- i just couldn't, ok? i didn't know how you would react... i messed up again, right?"

"NO, NO YOU DIDN'T MESS UP. YOU JUST WANTED TO-"

That was far away from a moment in which Sans wanted his brother to be kind and comprehensive.

"just tell me i did."

Much to his, and everyone's surprise, Papyrus smiled. "SANS, YOU MIGHT BE LAZY, YOU MIGHT BE ANNOYING SOMETIMES, YOU MIGHT MESS UP A LOT... BUT WHY DO YOU THINK YOU MESSED UP THIS TIME?" Sans looked up at him. "YOU WANTED TO KEEP ME HAPPY. YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG."

"you think? there was a murderer and i didn't tell you."

"BECAUSE YOU CARED ABOUT ME. SAY WHAT YOU WANT BUT WHAT YOU DID IS A GOOD THING."


	6. Chapter 6

Sans stared in confusion at his brother. He would usually get mad at a simple pun, but that time he hid the fact that there was a _murderer_ in the Underground away from him, and he was saying that it was alright? Not even a little angry yell, or a scowl? Sans could not understand. Sure, his brother had that sort of attitude, but...

Papyrus was confused and mostly shocked, too. In any other occasion, if his brother told him that there was a human wandering around, he would have been jumping up and down in utter joy and would have spent all his time gladly working on his puzzles, in an attempt to stop the intruder and hopefully be able to join the Royal Guard; nothing better than to have fun while trying to make a dream come true. But knowing that said human was killing for sport, was extremely dangerous, and that Sans truly cared about getting everyone away from danger, something really unusual coming from him... It put a twist into it.

If the horribly bad news had come from someone else, the skeleton would've ignored the warning, and the idea of taking the good side out of the human wouldn't have hesitated to pop out in his mind. Most monsters were also rebels some time ago, but violence hadn't been needed to change their minds. However, coming from the carefree monster Sans was, Papyrus knew to take it as seriously as possible. His brother would have never bothered to put so much effort into taking everyone away from danger if there wasn't an extremely good reason. Sans was way too worried to take his words lightly.

"I REALLY CAN'T BE MAD ABOUT THIS, SANS. SURE, YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME EARLIER, BUT STILL." Papyrus gave his brother a reassuring smile. He knew he needed it, it was clear that he was confused at his understanding. "YOU TRIED TO PROTECT ALL OF US. IT… IT SCARES ME TO THINK THAT WE ALL COULD HAVE BEEN DEAD IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU. YOU ARE THE BEST BROTHER EVER." The two skeletons were sure they heard Undyne and Mettaton aww-ing.

"oh, quit it bro, you're gonna make me emotional." Not even in such a tense moment could Sans not make the happiest smile that has ever crossed his face in response to his brother's charms; his heart was too full of love to not even let out the smallest of smiles. Papyrus was just about the only monster in the entire Underground that could stand him that much and take him seriously when necessary at the same time. He didn't know what he would do without his charismatic little bro with him... and the memory of what he had to go through in the past timeline almost got the small joyful moment away from him.

He could remember the drilling sadness that took tears out of his eyes at the sight of that human murdering his brother, carelessly, with a sickening smile. He could remember how that sadistic killer walked away, chuckling in delight. He could remember how he held the red scarf on his trembling hands, wishing that somehow his brother would come back to life, but he didn't. He could remember how he had been at the edge of snapping as he fought against the child, and he had tried hard not to break down.

"you are the best brother ever too."

The brotherly love sent a hurtful memory at Mettaton. He suddenly felt a heart ache, and his so confident smile started to disappear - it momentarily worried and somewhat scared him, since he had never felt such a powerful sadness hit him before. The whole care-about-each-other thing was trying to guide a memory towards the light; he knew he was missing something important, something he needed to care about, something-

Blooky...

All the ravishing traits immediately left the robot's expression as he remembered that his cousin had probably been left behind after all the chaos that human created among the monsters. Being a ghost, they couldn't die, but Mettaton felt terribly bad at just imagining how Napstablook could have reacted at an apparently innocent child murdering everybody. Napstablook would be safe if attacked, the only thing someone could kill were their feelings.

A simple yell at them would make them cry and float away - back in his ghost days, Mettaton learned that the hard way -, so a human happily slaughtering monsters in front of their families and friends would surely destroy them inside. Napstablook didn't even need to watch it happen to feel devastated - hearing about it would be enough. That little ghost was way too sensitive to stand such thing.

Mettaton's worry didn't go unnoticed by Undyne, and forgetting about how annoying his presence alone was, she turned to look at him with a frown. "Hey punk? You okay?" she asked half-heartedly, and it was obvious that the robot was trying to hide his sorrowful feelings under his constant cheerful, charismatic persona.

He was not fine with showing anyone his true feelings. He had always thought that, to be a star, he had to be confident, always show a smile. He had thought that being sad in front of any creature, be it a human or a monster, would make him look weak, that whoever saw him would think he was a weeper. Mettaton wouldn't let that happen. "Yes, I'm absolutely fine, darling. Why wouldn't I be?" Alphys had said he was a good actor, but that time, he didn't seem to be even trying to pretend it was all fine. "It's just- I need to talk to Alphys about something, yes." Undyne knew he was not fine, and she started to think Alphys was just joking - if that was his so-called good acting... well. And Mettaton was trying to play it cool indeed, but he noticed too late that his cousins' feelings were too heavy for his acting to stand. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't hide his emotions.

The doors opened noisily as the robotic monster went back to the lab, and Sans took a moment to look at his surroundings, and then back at the closed entrance. He noticed that the heat was starting to weaken Undyne, and he could barely understand how she could stay there and not feel an urge to dive into a frozen pool five minutes after. The insufferable temperature plus being clad in a heavy, metal armor had to be a nightmare.

He rolled his eyes, hoping one of the three monsters aside from him would get it. "does nobody else wonder why we're outside with this heat instead of inside?" he deadpanned. Papyrus and Monster Kid seemed thoughtful at that. Papyrus had never been one to complain about the temperature wherever he was, but he would rather stay somewhere cooler if there was a chance.

"HE HAS A POINT, SHOULDN'T THE LAB BE COOLER? JUST A BIT?"

"There's no difference between outside and inside." Undyne said firmly, though she clearly sounded out of breath and it was evident that she was losing the fight against the volcanic heat that always surrounded Hotland. Even though she had been there a lot of times, it was still hard to act as if she was alright. "The lab is just as hot. It doesn't matter where we wait."

It bothered her, and probably everyone, that Alphys didn't bother repair any of the many refreshing devices she had forgotten. Undyne wondered how she could even work there without any fans or air conditioners or advanced coolers of any sort.

Papyrus noticed how tired she looked, and things like those wouldn't slip off his mind. "ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE FINE?" he asked in concern. Even he knew that there were certain things she shouldn't mess around with; Hotland was one of them. Working there when he had nothing better to do, Sans had told him countless times that the temperature was more than horrible, and that he'd choose to run through the entire Underground in a nonstop race rather than guard his sentry station there. For once, Papyrus thought of his excuse as a good reason. "I CAN BRING YOU WATER!"

"I don't need water."

Her reassuring words had no effect on Papyrus. He knew Undyne probably wanted all the water in the world just then, she was being the powerful warrior that needed no help she was determined to be. He was about to say something else to convince her, but was cut off when his trainer realized his intentions and said, "I really don't need anything. I only want you all to be safe, and some water ain't going to keep you out of danger, is it?"

Papyrus understood and decided not to try any further. He knew it was pointless; they had that same kind of discussion almost every single time when he went to take cooking lessons. The skeleton always lost.

Monster Kid's tail waved like a little, happy puppy's, and a confident smile crossed his face. A part of him told him to go get water for himself before he became a fireball in the shape of a little armless dinosaur, but another part of him, his adventurer side, his dreamer side, told him that if Undyne could stay in Hotland with no water, so could he. After all, he wanted to be just like her.

* * *

Alphys was trying so hard to restrain her tears from making their way down her face, but it was useless. She didn't want to believe what Sans said, it couldn't be even remotely possible. Yet it was happening. Monsters murdered, hope completely gone, what was next? The world's destruction? Probably.

She sniffed, wiping a tear away. She didn't want to look like a cowardly weakling in front of the Amalgamates. Each of the melting creatures looked at her, and even though their expressions were hard to read, the scientist could tell that they were sad, almost feeling what she was feeling. She couldn't even bring herself to speak with them any further. She had failed them, and their families - who had probably been already killed at the hands of that child.

"I'm- I'm sorry, guys... I..." She sighed weakly. "I could never bring you b-back home... And now it's probably... t-too late..." She felt like trash. If she hadn't been a coward, and had gained the courage to tell that her experiments had horribly failed and accepted the consequences, her undying 'pets' would have been with their loved ones until impending death brought them apart, and not in a dirty, forgotten, hidden lab, on their own, with no light, with no friends aside from Alphys and themselves.

Alphys closed her eyes and let the tears flow. Not even the silence calmed her down. Her sobbing only stopped when she felt something poking her, and merely opened one of her eyes; Endogeny tried to make her look up, and laid next to her with a deep and distorted purring noise that anyone but her would consider nightmarish. She smiled. She knew they were trying to make her happy. They wanted her to be happy, even after what she did.

"Come on, q-quit it..." Endogeny nuzzled her, managing to make her laugh a little. It was a sad laugh, but a laugh nevertheless, and that was good enough for the misshapen dog. Lemon Bread and Memoryhead stood expressionless, thinking about what to do. They had always been the quiet ones, but they still wanted to help. They just didn't know how to. Snowdrake's mother forced a shaky smile, trying her best to show happiness, and Reaper Bird patted Alphys' head with its beak – it was its way to say, _everything is okay_. Alphys wasn't crying any longer. "Alright, you got me."

The yellow lizard took in a deep breath, and caressing Endogeny's head, she started, "I'll understand if y-you guys are mad. I... I want you to be. I promised I would take you back... And I never did. Now... Now everyone's dying. If... If I-I hadn't been so ashamed, you all could have been home. You all could have been... happy." She sniffed and took a short, shaky breath as she stopped petting the eerie dog right next to her. "Y-your families are... t-they are dead... And..." Her eyes became watery. "We all will probably be too, soon... I- I can't stay here any longer. We are evacuating, a-and we b-barely have much time l-left to leave... I… can't take you with me."

There were several head tilts, and a few confused gurgling and hissing noises. Alphys had been expecting that reaction. It crushed her heart; she had harmed them enough already, now she had to straight up abandon them. Wanting to prevent that, she had asked Sans if it was a good idea to hide everyone in the True Lab - since he was the only monster that knew her secret, and reluctantly as always, had made the promise to keep it a secret -, so she could both stay with the Amalgamates and let the monsters finally see what she had done, but he denied that idea immediately, saying that the human would find them soon, and that the monsters that were still alive couldn't stay there for long. It was too small, and not a place to live in. They all had to go to Asgore's almost-completely forgotten Protection Center. Sadly, it was reasonable enough for Alphys to let go of the idea.

"I'm so sorry, b-but you can't come. If any monster, or Asgore, or even Undyne saw you... They would freak out, or- or chase you away, or even try to kill you, and maybe even… maybe even try to… kill me." She shook her head lightly; that was a crazy thought, she was rambling. "And if- if the journey is too long, something may happen to you, or that human could t-target you. It's not that I d-don't want you to come... They won't let me, no one and nothing would. By l-l-letting you come, instead of taking you away from danger, I'd… I'd just bump you into it..."

Tears were filling her eyes again, and not even Endogeny's attempts to comfort her were enough. Alphys knew she was hurting the Amalgamates' feelings by not getting rid of her sadness when they wanted her to, but she felt too bad. She wanted them to be furious. She deserved it. But no, they were trying to drive her sadness away, to tell her that everything was alright.

"Don't... wo... rry." a weak, raspy voice said, and Alphys looked through the curtain of tears that covered her eyes realizing the melting Snowdrake was barely standing in front of her. "We... are safe... under... stand." The sorrowful Amalgamate tried to smile again; her expression still turned out to be more sad and depressed than happy, but it was the best she could make.

"You can go." Lemon Bread said quietly.

"Go without us." Memoryhead muttered.

Endogeny nudged her side affectionately.

Reaper Bird wrapped its neck around her, imitating a hug.

A single tear rolled down the scientist's cheek, it was a happy one. Alphys smiled again. She sobbed once. "Th- thanks for understanding... I'll… I'll miss you... Please, take care, okay? I left you guys food for a while. I d- don't think that killer is going to c-come here, but, if that's the case... Please don't fight back. J-just hide. Will... Will you do that for me?"

Everyone smiled. Everyone nodded, shakily.

Alphys didn't want to admit it, but they were making the goodbye harder than it should have been. She had to relieve herself. They would be fine, they _had_ to be fine. As far as she knew, killing them was almost impossible, and they didn't need much aside from some company and food; they had all that. They were going to be alright. They were going to stay alive.

But that still didn't throw the scientist's grief away, and the Amalgamates could note it. Alphys' emotions were so mixed that she didn't know what to do or say anymore. She felt happy because they were going to be alright, and that sadistic human wouldn't hurt them; by the other hand, they had to be left on their own, and with time, that could be a worse fate than death.

She had to think on the bright side if she wanted to lower the crushing weight on her shoulders. They had each other. They considered each other a family. Nothing could go wrong.

Nothing.

* * *

She wiped one last tear as she came back to the lab. Her eyes were looking at the automatic doors as if they were the most beautiful things she had seen. That would be the last time those doors opened for her, that would be her last moment in the lab. That would be her last moment in Hotland and every part of the Underground she knew of. The laboratory was her home. Everything she worked on, everything she learned, everything she had, she wouldn't see it ever again. There was a minuscule chance that they could go back there.

She looked around her one and only home. The last glance at it. Knowing that she had to leave hurt her more than she thought it would; after all, Alphys pretty much grew up there, ever since she developed a passion for science. But there was nothing she could do about it. With a defeated sigh, she walked towards the door, not before being stopped by a voice she recognized.

"Oh, Alphys, darling, I was looking for you!"

The nervous scientist looked behind her in surprise, having not expected Mettaton to be there. "Y-yeah, what is it?"

"I was wondering if you- still had..." Mettaton's speech trailed off when he saw visible tear marks on Alphys' face, and her eyes were still somewhat watery. "Sweetheart, were you crying?"

Alphys didn't want to admit she was faintly blushing. She felt embarrassed at the fact that her bawling was too obvious, and she wasn't precisely alright with showing or admitting her inner emotions. Not even Mettaton knew about the Amalgamates; Alphys would need to think of an excuse, but what? She couldn't tell him the truth just like that. Mettaton wouldn't keep such thing a secret for long anyways. She feared his reaction. How could she, in such a tense moment, tell him that she had transformed once happily living monsters into depressed, melting beings in a bestial state and hid it from everyone for so long? She couldn't bring herself to.

Much to her relief, she didn't need to think of an excuse, as the robot guessed something before she could even think of a lie. "Oh, I know, you don't want to leave." She sighed quietly, knowing she didn't need to make an awful, hardly believable lie. "It's alright, I don't want to leave either. If I could cry, that's what I would be doing now as well!" He gave a reassuring laugh, and Alphys tried to act as if that was the truth, laughing quietly and shyly.

"Y-y-yeah, exactly, I… I don't want to-to leave. That's what… that's what's happening." She tittered nervously, and Mettaton had to frown at her odd behavior, but fortunately for her, he dismissed it as her usual oh-you-got-me attitude. Willing to change subject before the robot got suspicious, she started looking from side to side, trying to find something else to talk about. "Um... Did- did you want something?"

"Ah, yes, do you still have that notebook?"

Alphys immediately saw another reason that restrained her from leaving. Mettaton's EX form was still a work in progress. She needed to make sure everything was working correctly, or the outcome wouldn't be good. She had tried to build small robots guided by an artificial intelligence before to make sure she wouldn't mess up, and the tests didn't go quite as planned. They had a rather explosive ending. If something happened to Mettaton because she let him stay in his EX form without the required tests to make sure it was stable, she would never forgive herself. His ghost days were over; Mettaton was as prone to death as any other monster.

Whatever happened to him would be her fault. He was only a ghost, Alphys was responsible for his body's functions. One simple mistake could mess up everything. The body needed to be fully stable or else it could break in an instant. It was her duty to make sure nothing happened, and she didn't have time.

The yellow monster gulped before searching through the pocket of her lab coat until her hand came across the notebook and pencil, and she hesitated before taking them out. She opened the page she was writing in, and realized that she was still halfway done with the tests. Holding the notebook in front of her and looking at the barely legible notes, she inhaled lightly. "H-hey, are you sure y-you're fine?"

Mettaton appreciated how Alphys cared more about him than about what he wanted. He rarely borrowed things from her, and the one time he did, she went straightly to ask about his well-being instead. He was well aware that wandering around without the tests was risky, but there were only two options: take the risk and wait for a possible upcoming shutdown, or stay there under repairs if necessary and thus wait for a murderer to end both of their lives, and Mettaton willingly preferred to choose a longer lifespan. He smiled gently.

"Darling, you really shouldn't worry about me. Look at me, I'm fine! In fact, I've never been better!"

"It's... It's just- Well… you know I-I tried to build ot-other robots, but… did I tell you how my untested inventions went?"

"Not really."

"They- they kinda, um... B-blew up."

Alphys felt drops of sweat on her forehead at Mettaton's silence and small head tilt. But, how not, he again dismissed it as Alphys' predictable, overly worried behavior. In point of fact, Mettaton wasn't one to worry about death, as long as he felt it was his time to go, and as long as he had a satisfactory ending. "Alphys, please, don't be so melodramatic." He muttered a praiseful, 'Leave that to the professionals.' to himself before continuing. "I'm absolutely, perfectly, beautifully fine! There is nothing wrong, and there won't be anything wrong either. This form is perfect as it is. Besides, bombs are my affinity. It sure would be something to depart as one of them, just like a gorgeous, colorful firework, ha ha!"

Alphys looked nervous at his words, and Mettaton wondered if she took that seriously. It wouldn't have surprised him, and he started to think she cared too much about him. "What's with that face, love? I thought you would have learnt to never take me seriously at all by now. I don't want to blow up. I have so much to live for! I only say these things to add beauty and suspense. Cheer up a little, darling." She seemed a tad more relaxed, but still not enough.

Mettaton was always looking at the bright side of things, most of the time to get what he wanted, and that seemed like one of those times. Alphys doubted he would lie to her about something so important, as he knew it was dangerous for him to not let her complete the tests, but still. It was true that he didn't seem to be having any problems, and he would surely notice if something was malfunctioning. The scientist decided to listen to her creation for once.

"Alright, if-if you say so..." She looked at the notebook again, and had a quick look at her notes. According to her calculations, the only possible breakdowns there could be so far were mobility issues and sudden loss of batteries. An explosion was unlikely unless other errors weren't fixed in time. Neither of those looked about to happen. "Anyways, w-what did you want the notebook for?" Alphys blinked, and realized how Mettaton looked almost... embarrassed? Perhaps she wasn't the only one with an emotional secret hidden within.

The robot stuttered a bit, trying to find the right words. "Well, I just wanted to write something. It's… it's really important." Alphys tilted her head. She normally wouldn't have questioned Mettaton, or anyone, but his lack of confidence took her curiosity out.

"Write what?"

The robotic monster did not answer immediately. Mettaton wondered if he should tell her right away; he wasn't good at making up excuses in situations like those either. He was concerned that Alphys would criticize him for having forgotten about his cousin and wanting to reach out to him too late. Then again, she was Alphys – not like she was going to burst out laughing at something like that. Mettaton sighed.

"I can't keep this to myself. Alphys, all this time… I've been a selfish fool." The lizard frowned. There was one thing Mettaton would never do: insult himself. He few times felt bad about something in front of her as well. What had gotten into him? "Remember when I told you that I once promised my cousin that I would never leave them behind? Well, I did, can't you see? Do you know what they could have gone through? Blooky was left alone, and now they had to watch that thing murder everybody in front of them. And… it's all my fault. I should have gone back. I should have told them that I never wanted to forget about them…"

He seemed unable to continue. Ever since they met, Mettaton always told her that, after getting his new body done, he would constantly visit Napstablook, and get them to join him. And he never did. The fame had blinded him. Alphys could recall how he became sassier and way more egocentric after becoming popular. She could imagine how broken he must've felt.

"Oh, Mettaton, it's- it's alright…" Something clicked on her mind. He probably wanted to write a letter to Napstablook – as far as she knew, the ghost remembered what the Center was, and where the lab was as well. Mettaton told them before leaving. If they grew too worried at the sight of sprawled dust and overall nothingness, the ghost would go to the lab after noticing there was no one, read the letter, and join the group. Or so Mettaton thought.

"No, it's not, Alphys. Blooky is probably traumatized. If you raise your voice, they will start bawling. Imagine their reaction at… a kid killing someone in front of them…" Alphys' worry was flooding her. She had never seen Mettaton so depressed, and it hurt her heart to see him like that. She was hurt enough already.

"Please, don't worry about it, okay? You want to write a letter, don't you?" The robot nodded once, slowly, not even bothering to question how she guessed it so fast. "Then do it. Napstablook will read it, and they will come. Everything is going to go just as planned, yes?" She had never been good at comforting others, not even at comforting herself, as everything she thought of had a downside, but she applauded at herself mentally when she saw Mettaton smiling at her words.

"Al, you are the best. You go out, I'll be right there."

"Actually, I need to pick up a few things." She handed him the notebook. "T-take your time."

She knew she didn't have enough time to complete the notes, but at least she had been working on a way to prevent the batteries from draining so fast, something that would avert many errors from happening as well as Mettaton deactivating suddenly, and she could still work on it even outside the lab if she picked up the right tools. She was almost done with it.

* * *

Flowey stared at the group. He couldn't understand how they weren't literally burning yet, and they seemed fairly calm as well. The more he thought about it, the stupider Sans' idea sounded. Chara was not going to stop until they all were killed, it didn't matter where they went. That Protection Center was useless. It had to be. Flowey had no idea what it was like, but even if it was some sort of incredibly protected zone, Chara would find a way to get through. They were all goners, no matter what.

He wondered why Sans didn't bring them there in the past timeline if he was well aware of that kid's intentions. Was it because his brother was dead, making him find saving the rest useless, as the only monster he cared about was gone? He failed at finding any more reasons.

He preferred to focus on his own plans. He knew he still had a chance to win Chara's trust. If the monster group managed to start their journey to the Center without the two humans interfering, he could follow them and constantly tell Chara what they were doing, what they talked about, and towards where they were headed each time. That would be a greater help than clear obstacles out of the way; it was clear the human spirit did not need that.

Then again, the chances of Chara deciding Flowey could be another partner were small, especially after the past events. He still had that image in his mind. That sickening image, when Chara murdered her one and only friend, her adopted _sibling_ who cared about her, in cold blood, grinning further and further at each strike that sent unbearable pain through his little, frail 'body'.

Flowey liked killing others for fun. He liked seeing others' pain. But he knew he would never betray a kindred creature. That was beyond his limits.

And Chara not accepting him wasn't his only risk. Just observing the group was dangerous enough. Most of the monsters were way too powerful for him. He knew he wouldn't stand a chance against Undyne, or Asgore, perhaps not even Mettaton, and much less against Sans. Heck, even Papyrus could beat him if he wanted, but that surely wasn't about to happen.

But if he had a chance, he was going to take advantage of it, no matter what. After all, he was really starting to appreciate life a little more, especially because he couldn't go back, and by the looks of it, Chara wasn't planning on bringing the world back. Whoever died, would be dead forever, unless the deceased human child changed her mind.

It was a great moment to start his plan.

* * *

Tsunderplane's 'cheeks' were redder than the blood staining Frisk's knife, innocently hidden behind her back. The little Vulkin watched as the human played with the living plane's feelings, not being aware of the mortal intentions she carried. The small fire monster smiled at seeing someone kind enough to give Tsunderplane the attention it wanted and needed.

"I think you have cute winglets." Frisk said calmly and childishly, arms behind her back holding the knife, trying to look as ingenuous as possible. The plane hovered back in surprise.

"Ah… is that true…?" Tsunderplane muttered, cheeks turning even redder.

A small giggle.

"You bet."

A grin.

The blade slashed the mechanical monster, Vulkin stumbling back in shock as dark smoke came out of Tsunderplane and it started to lose altitude. All it said before crashing down was, "B-but I never got to…!"

Its words were cut short by an explosion as it hit the ground. Frisk merely squinted her eyes as she felt a wave of heat hit her. As the smoke cleared out, Vulkin came into her sight. The creature was cowering, mouth agape in shock. The human child admired her reflection on the blade before her eyes turned to look at the small fire monster, who was too terrified to even back away.

"Oh, don't worry. You will join your friend soon."


End file.
